What effect does the structure of the text create on the story itself?

Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is structured in a way that it slowly peels away the facade of the technological improvements made by society to reveal the devastation some advancements can cause. Bradbury structures this story by turning something quaint into something terrifying.

The actions in the story, absent of any human presence, suggest this family that lived in the Allendale, California house led a fulfilled life. They celebrated birthdays, played together, ate...

Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is structured in a way that it slowly peels away the facade of the technological improvements made by society to reveal the devastation some advancements can cause. Bradbury structures this story by turning something quaint into something terrifying.

The actions in the story, absent of any human presence, suggest this family that lived in the Allendale, California house led a fulfilled life. They celebrated birthdays, played together, ate as a family, and even listened to poetry.

While all of this seemingly pleasant life is occurring in the narration, Bradbury reveals the terrible thing that had happened. At 10 o'clock, the house was the only one standing amid "rubble and ashes" and a "radioactive glow" could be seen for miles. Not only this, but the fate of the family is even more devastating:

The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.

After this reveal, Bradbury returns to the activity of the house going on about its business. The house dealt cards, served dinner, and cleaned up. The nursery walls performed for no audience. But, in contrast to the pleasant opening of the story, the house now seems to be a haunting reminder of the meaninglessness of this type of activity. Other technology—particularly nuclear weapons—would make every object useless.

In a story without any human action and no traditional characters, Bradbury effectively relies on his story's structure to create an emotional response in readers.